Daily Carol's 365 from 12th December 2012 - A Year of Happiness

Thanks Toni :) I really need to get out and about .... am starting to feel no ooomph when I take a shot in the house so some fresh air needed and good walk :D
 
Today's photo is my first one away from the house :lol: and it was still just in my sister's garden :lol: I'm going to have to get out of the house whilst over the water, though. She doesn't have all the little clutter my house has that can be used as props... might have to root around my nephews toy box ;) Flowers and landscapes and stuff are my weak point, though! My very very weak, weak point haha
 
oh I love flowers and birds :D See one and I have the camera out :D Landscapes I havent really worked on much but intend to soon :) Its the SP and others subjects that throw me but I'll keep trying .... I dont have enough room to work on stuff really in my little corner of the dining room but again I will keep on it and see what I can get - finding loads of props and stuff so that helps :)
And have been asked to do a few shots of a friends 2 baby girls (2yr and 9mth) so that will be fun - they know Im only a beginner but have seen some of my other work and liked it so that helped a bit with my confidence :D
 
Yeah, my "loves" are the little knickknack-y prop things and people... got my 1 year old nephew here but only got the 50mm 1.8 lens and neither my lens nor myself are fast enough for him.... it's really, really bumming me out because I never see him and want some photos!
 
Just get any of him...... the natural ones are always the best. I did it with my 1yr old grandaughter and her 2 yr old brother while they were playing. Natural smiles and laughter .... always the best :D
 
They're all going to be blurry and out of focus though :( my 1 yo niece is so much easier... she sits down and stays there haha.
 
toadstool said:
They're all going to be blurry and out of focus though :( my 1 yo niece is so much easier... she sits down and stays there haha.
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oh no thats no good then - just remembered you said only your 50mm so looks like you are going to have to bribe him with something to make him sit still for a while .... though only God knows how :shrug:
 
That's much better Carol, keep practising and you will get there :)
 
Very good carol!.... Lots of play time today?
 
Really going to have to try this macro business Carol, you have inspired me.
 
Carol like it , and you will master the Macro Lens in time and I look forward to your shots later in the year and you will see a massive change and progression
 
Thanks Sarah and Trace :) looking like a decent enough day as well :D
 
Have you done the modification to remove the from element from the lens yet? It allows it to focus even closer.
 
robj20 said:
Have you done the modification to remove the from element from the lens yet? It allows it to focus even closer.
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Have the instructions on how to do it but wary to be honest ..... is it hard to do or simple enough for my 'nimble' fingers? :lol:
At the moment it is set at 0.6 - 0.9x but can convert it to 0.7 - 1.8x
Just worried I may push the glass element a bit too hard and BAM! end of lens :(
 
Apparently its just remove the stickers at the front and remove the screws then the lens comes off.

" I removed the front sticker, unscrewed 3 retaining screws, and removed the front 3 elements (the AF elements). With these elements removed, the lens is focused by either zooming it in/out or by moving the camera back/forth, just like one would do with the MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens. The loss of autofocus is hardly a concern for extreme macro work, since most macro shots (especially at high magnification) are manually focused. The slow aperture range of this lens isn't much of a concern either, since most macro work is done at f/8 and beyond for DoF reasons."
 
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might just get my daughters B/F to do it as he does know what he is doing ...... can always blame him if it goes wrong :D :lol:
 
and yet another Macro as today is freezing and I mean freezing :( the fog is so thick I have trouble seeing what is in front of me never mind the camera :lol:

So I managed to capture this leaf which is trapped in a web on our shed door (yes a shed nothing more romantic than that is there? :lol: )


090113 by CTB SNAPS, on Flickr
 
Like that as an image Carol, the colours are harmonious as well. Have you sharpened this at all as it's maybe a touch soft in the areas where it should be sharp, but a bit of work should bring it out more. Also, might look good with a spray of water on it as well.
 
whipspeed said:
Like that as an image Carol, the colours are harmonious as well. Have you sharpened this at all as it's maybe a touch soft in the areas where it should be sharp, but a bit of work should bring it out more. Also, might look good with a spray of water on it as well.
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Thanks Sarah ..... no sharpening on it at all though done with the macro lens (leaf is about 1" long) so maybe that is why it is soft in a few areas..... was at a strange angle so had to stand, bent slightly and hold my breath hoping the camera stayed focused.... looks like it stayed on the leaf only :(

Will try it with some water next time :)
 
Thanks - will try that one later :)
 
whipspeed said:
Like that as an image Carol, the colours are harmonious as well. Have you sharpened this at all as it's maybe a touch soft in the areas where it should be sharp, but a bit of work should bring it out more. Also, might look good with a spray of water on it as well.
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I agree - this photo has a nice muted colour/feel to it which I think works really well. However, it does look a little soft.....but, practice makes perfect as they say and the lens is still so new! I'm not too sure about the spray of water - I like that it looks so 'old' and dry.
 
Thanks Sam ...... now I've looked at it even closer I can see a LOT of softness which I never noticed before but can't even crop it out or we lose the leaf .... Maybe focusing on the leaf a tiny bit higher might have worked better .... will have to try it again and see :)
 
Plane of focus seems to be across the centre of the leaf, so that is ok, what apeture were you using? Trouble with macro at a the wider apetures is that if we move slightly, the focus moves, I usually use a tripod when doing this.
 
whipspeed said:
Plane of focus seems to be across the centre of the leaf, so that is ok, what apeture were you using? Trouble with macro at a the wider apetures is that if we move slightly, the focus moves, I usually use a tripod when doing this.
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checked the exif and it was 5.6 ..... couldnt get the tripod close enough to it so was using handheld - trying not to breathe so I didnt lose focus but must have just as I pressed
 
Instead of holding your breath, try breathing out very slowly as you take the shot, that is what I used to do when I did archery, if you held your breath when shooting, it was less accurate that breathing out slowly.
 
whipspeed said:
Instead of holding your breath, try breathing out very slowly as you take the shot, that is what I used to do when I did archery, if you held your breath when shooting, it was less accurate that breathing out slowly.
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This has worked for me...but also breathing out and creating a sensation of either weightlessness or falling backward... Its weird..but works..
 
always thought I had to breath in and arms tightly to side but will try breathing out slowly - maybe not the falling backwards though
 
Hi Carol - you had edit ticked so I had a quick play...


Carol Macro Leaf Edit by Ferj Photography, on Flickr

This has the makings of a great shot I think perhaps a different type of leaf would have helped as the shot confused me initially, also maybe a different aperture for more depth of field in this one. Looking at the original on flickr (which was huge!) it seemed a bit noisy and a bit soft. I agree with advice above you really need a fast shutter speed if you are going to do this handheld. If its too dark use a reflector to bounce more light in - it will give you many more options!
 
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Thanks Ferj .... like the conversion and agree that a crop like that would have been better :) Thanks again
 
That's pretty carol!.... and you had lovely frost too.. woohoo always makes for good photos..
 
kennysarmy said:
Some really great photos in your thread, you have a very good eye for photography...particularly the last few macros.
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Thanks Jeff :) Those Macros are harder than I thought but I'm getting there (I hope :lol: )

Cg_Girl said:
That's pretty carol!.... and you had lovely frost too.. woohoo always makes for good photos..
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Thanks T :) Frost and fog so didnt venture far today :shake:
 
Thanks Matt :) TBH I'm not really struck on yesterdays either but time was (very quickly) running out and I was getting frustrated (lack of sleep I think) with them al so just picked that one and put it on .... know I shouldnt have :(
Todays was taken and I was quite impressed with myself as I not only used the macro but also the 2x macro lens from the 8.00GBP set I bought that wouldnt work on any other lens properly so I managed to get quite close in .... the leaf was only about 1" long so that was pretty good - not too happy about the amount of softness but learning :)
 
I really like that shot, love what the DOF has done to the web, it's really cool!
 
Thanks Conor :) (remembered just one N as my stepson is of the same name and spelling and hates anyone who puts 2 Ns :D
 
carolthomasburns said:
Thanks Conor :) (remembered just one N as my stepson is of the same name and spelling and hates anyone who puts 2 Ns :D
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Hah! I used to hate it, but kinda got used to it over the years. When you get any combination from Connor/Conner/Coner/Conar/etc you give up and just accept what ever is written down! But I do like to joke about it now
 
You're really getting fun out of the macro. I don't think I'd want to be that close to a spiders web even if it was an old one - just in case!
 
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